On pages 180 to 184 of the free ebook, Ready For Rapture, By Susan Davis, I found three messages from Jesus. The first was given through Donna McDonald at a conference in August, 2014, and the other two were given in response to questions about the first.

In rather strong language, God is telling everyone to stop using His name in “expletives” which means “swear words that do not add to the meaning of a sentence”. He refers to this as “pollution of the mouth” and makes it very clear that such speech is unholy, mocking, disrespectful, ugly and sinful to Him, and that paying for movies, music or reading-material that contain such expletives is paying to have Him mocked. That is, after all, Satan’s purpose for lulling us into using such expletives, isn’t it? He just loves manipulating us, God’s own children, into doing his mocking for him. Doesn’t that just make you furious!

Below, I divided these expletives into three categories. The first two, most of us should already recognize, but the last category just might surprise you.

1. God has already told us not to engage in obscene, dirty, filthy, vulgar, coarse, crude, unwholesome speech. (Ephesians 5:4, Ephesians 4:29) Of course this entails more than just expletives. It involves curses, low humor, name calling and more.

2. Among the Ten Commandments given to us through Moses, number three tells us to honor God’s name by not misusing it. Most of us know this as “not taking His name in vain” which means “to use His name without success or results”. (Exodus 20:7, Deuteronomy 5:11)

3. It may surprise you to hear that God is also asking that we not use “minced oaths” which are a form of side-step swearing using euphemisms. These include gosh, golly, egad, good grief, good gravy, good golly Miss Molly, oh my gosh, oh my goodness, sheesh, gee, geez, gee wiz, jeez, jeepers, jeepers creepers, Jiminy Christmas, darn, dang, dog gone it, goll blam it, shucks, shoot, holy ____ (any word), freaken, what the hay, what the heck, what the dickens, etc. It’s not hard to see what these minced words really mean, right?

God knows every use of His name and desires that we revere it. When we say, “God bless you,” it is He who brings the blessing, but He does not want us using His name as a precursor to our curses (to damn anyone). And, when we use His name to address Him, He seriously listens to us, but when we use His name as an expletive, such as out of shock or frustration, we aren’t addressing Him at all, are we? Such expletives are spoken in vain, without any expectation of success or results.

Even countless atheists routinely use His name in this manner, or they use minced oaths that mean the same thing. Isn’t it obvious to see how Satan has so many of us habitually trained? (God has given His word that this sin will bring dire consequences, and He always keeps His every word. Please don’t take this lightly.)

Didn’t Superman’s alter ego, Clark Kent, cultivate his innocent, farm-boy persona through the seemingly innocuous use of minced-oath expletives? (“Gee, Lois… Golly, Mr. White…”) It’s not a stretch to consider that Satan used this fictitious, apple pie all-American, seemingly super-moral, superhero to bring minced oaths further into the mainstream knowing EXACTLY how God would feel about it.

Can you see how it’s no coincidence that superman’s name is Kal-El, his father’s name is Jor-El and his cousin’s name is Kara Zor-El, all from the house of “El”. It seems Satan can’t resist any opportunity to mock God, mock His name or attempt to replace Him with yet one more false god or idol.

Let us all allow our eyes to be opened as to how God’s enemy is manipulating us to sin, not only against each other, but against our one-and-only, true Father, the Head of the true House of El. Please let us all honor our Heavenly Papa by refraining from swearing, from using crass humor, from taking any name of the Lord in vain through expletives, and now also, from using any minced oaths.

The phrase “That’s good enough” just isn’t good enough when it comes to true holiness. True holiness will have nothing to do with sin to any degree. Anything less just doesn’t make the grade and so falls short of the bulls eye. So what is real holiness?

Put simply, “holiness is grace, mercy and lovingkindness. And, sin is anything which stands against that.” God has told us that the fruits of His Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22) Any fruits contrary to these are encouraged by spirits of His enemy and are unholy.

For example, taking a quick glance at the concept of grace (overgenerous preferential treatment), we see that it embodies generosity, therefore, willingly choosing to be stingy, greedy, selfish or in any other way ungenerous is a sin (unholy).

Both the prophet Isaiah and John the disciple report having heard heavenly beings near the throne of God crying, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord.” (Isaiah 6:3 & Revelation 4:8) In ancient Hebrew culture, repeating a phrase three times was a commonly understood practice of expressing intensity such as on a logarithmic scale. It’s like saying God is 1000 times holy. (He is a thousand times graceful, merciful, loving and kind.) God’s prophet, Habakkuk, also said of Him, “…You are pure and cannot stand the sight of evil. You cannot tolerate wrongdoing…” (Habakkuk 1:13) Those who reject Jesus and die without having allowed Him to take away their sin (Act 4:12) will personally experience just how holy, holy, holy God truly is and will taste for themselves just how much He loathes, loathes, loathes sin. (I am terrified for anyone who chooses that path. Please don’t reject Jesus.)

Jesus tells us through His disciple, Peter, “…But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, ‘You must be holy, because I am holy.’…” (1 Peter 1:15-16) Jesus also tells us through His disciple, Matthew, “…But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect…” (Matthew 5:48) I personally take this to mean that we must be perfect in our holiness. We must be perfect in our grace, mercy and lovingkindness, and if we allow Him to, Jesus will get us there, for He is faithful. (2 Timothy 2:13 & 1 Thessalonians 5:24)

When Jesus walked this earth in the flesh, He lived a holy and prefect life, a sinless life. He was loving, kind, merciful and both naturally and supernaturally gracious (generous beyond measure). He abounded in all the fruits of the Spirit, but He was also one other thing. He was obedient, even unto death. Through His disciple, John, Jesus said, “If you love me, obey my commandments.” (John 14:15) “Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. (John 14:21) “All who love me will do what I say.” (John 14:23) So you see, acts of disobedience and rebellion are not lovingkindness and are therefore unholy, a sin. (From what I understand, Jesus obeyed not only God but everyone God placed in authority over Him including His mom.)

Jesus’ life on earth was given to us as our example to follow (1 Peter 2:21 & John 13:15). A “true follower” of Jesus is anyone whom the Holy Spirit is teaching to follow His ways, which means not just learning about them but living out His example every moment. (James 1:22) There is great wisdom in teaching our children to be followers of Jesus; to always ask themselves “What would Jesus do?” If we adults had only been trained to this habit as children, then we should still be constantly looking to Jesus as our example today. (Proverbs 22:6) For, we all, adults and children alike, are commanded to acknowledge God in all our ways (Proverbs 3:6), not just some of our ways, some of the time or until a certain age.

In your every action, reaction, situation and decision, do you choose Jesus’ way? Do you follow His “ways of holiness”; His “ways of grace, mercy and lovingkindness”? Do you even have a sense of that high mark to which the holy, holy, holy Son of God demonstrated and is calling us; that perfectly beautiful mark for which all our hearts should desperately hope and long to reach? Or, have you perhaps settled for your own less-than-perfect vision of holiness? Do not rest there on your own understanding, beloved. (Proverbs 3:5)

Most Christians have heard of The Beatitudes as recorded in the disciple Matthew’s account of Jesus life. (Matthew 5:3-11) But, have you noticed what comes after? Was not Jesus in fact showing everyone that their concept of holiness is much too low? Didn’t He in fact raise the bar?

In the Ten Commandments which God gave us through Moses, number six tells us not to commit murder, but in Matthew 5:21-26, Jesus shows us that murder means more than just physical killing. Who knew? Likewise, the seventh commandment tells us not to commit adultery, but again, in Matthew 5:27-30, Jesus raises the bar. And, so on it goes, all the way to the end of Matthew, chapter 7.

Is not God showing us that “reaching for the mark” means more than we think? The mark of true holiness is higher than our current understanding. If we truly long to be like our Heavenly Dad, to be His sons and daughters, then what can we do but ask His Holy Spirit; His “gracious, merciful Spirit of lovingkindness” to teach us; to reveal each step up on our path to His holy, holy, holiness.

Then, gradually, day-by-day, as we continue to acknowledge our Heavenly Dad in all our ways; as we joyfully (or not so joyfully) obey His commands; as we seek to know Him and His holy (gracious, merciful, loving, kind) ways through the words He has graciously given to us; and as we listen as best we can to His gentle, quiet, guiding voice inside us, let us wait with patient endurance and childlike trust while we, the clay, are carefully pounded and molded on the Master Potter’s wheel and then baked in His fiery furnace until we each are, at last, made a perfect, holy vessel lacking in no good thing and fit for His amazing purpose, for we have His promise that He will finish what He starts. (Philippians 1:6)

Oh, for us all to be holy, each one overflowing with grace, mercy and lovingkindness, exceedingly abundant in all the fruits of His Spirit! What a beautiful kingdom that will be!

Keep reaching for the mark, beloved.

One Step Up: A Growing Sensitivity

Here is a step up that God showed me on the path to perfect grace, mercy and lovingkindness. We all know that lying is a sin, right? But, did you know that there are five forms of lying? They are fabrication, denial, omission, exaggeration and minimization. Think about that for awhile.

As a child, because God’s laws were written on my heart (Romans 2:15) my conscience was sorely bothered by my first fabrications, denials and deliberate omissions. Had I simply ignored my conscience, I have no doubt that eventually it would have been seared and lying would have become easy for me. Instead, my heart told me that I should obey my conscience, so I resisted the temptation to lie. Then over time, an unexpected thing happened. My conscience became even more sensitive, and eventually omissions by silence, then exaggeration and, lastly, minimization began to feel the same as my first experiences with lying, which led me to realize that they must also be forms of lying. A little research confirmed this for me.

From this experience, I have come to believe that, if we would just strive to climb even one step up toward holiness, God will then reveal to us another step up.

Jesus said through His disciple, John, “…The devil has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a deceiver and the father of lies…” (John 8:44)

Jesus said through His prophet, Barbra, “…All of Satan’s words are lies, you don’t need to know his words. His lies just pop into your mind. This you can not prevent, but what you can do is not believe them, and do not speak them out loud…” (The Pike Lake Transcripts, December 4, 2012) It’s no wonder then that we need to ask for forgiveness daily. “No one is righteous–not even one.” (Romans 3:10) “For all have sinned…” (Romans 3:23)

Now to address a particular subtlety of one specific form of lying:

Negative, unrealistic statements containing such absolutes as “always” and “never” are exaggerations intended to manipulate opinions about someone’s character. (i.e. “You never…” or “He always…”) This particular form of manipulation is often employed by children and the childish. Sound familiar?

Jesus said through His prophet, Yolanda Ballard, “…When your motives stem from manipulation, you are dabbling in witchcraft…” (At The Father’s Feet, April 5, 2009) [paraphrased]

I suspect many people may not even realize that God sees an exaggeration (which is not meant jokingly) as a lie; a manipulation akin to witchcraft. How much more sensitive then does one’s conscience need to be to realize that using negative absolutes is also dabbling in witchcraft?

Let us carefully consider the wisdom of avoiding speaking out loud any sudden thoughts that negatively apply absolutes such as “always” and “never” to any of God’s children, for exercising such wisdom is yet another step toward holiness, bringing us that much closer to our Heavenly Papa who love us so very much.

Although this never happened, just imagine if it had. Imagine that when Jesus was a young man in the flesh He had been set upon by a group of thugs organized and paid by those same religious leaders who hated Him. Imagine that instead of simply killing Him, they had locked Him away in a dungeon, underfed, beaten, forced into slave labor for countless years until He was finally a weak, frail, shabby old man fraught with sores. Then one day, He was simply dumped into the street; left a grey-haired beggar barely able to lift His head.

Now, imagine that you happened by and saw Him lying there covered in dust, wearing only filthy rags and smelling of decay. He is holding out a shaky arm, begging for water and food as pleading tears run down from His weary eyes. And, suddenly, you know fully who it is you have come upon!

What would you do?

Would you run quickly and bring Him water? Would you pick up His emaciated body now light as a feather and say, “It’s okay now. I’ve got you, Lord”? Would you hold Him close to your heart despite the smell and cry tears over Him as you walked? Would you tenderly carry Him into your home and spoon feed Him from your own table? Would you bath Him and groom Him and give Him a soft place to rest? Would you stay faithfully by His side and hold His shaky hand? Would you caress His face and gently kiss over His tears of relief? Would you help Him with all you had? Would you treat Him better than your own grandpa or your old man?

Matthew 25:34-40

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’

Although we are incapable of ever fully grasping the depth of the love that beats for us within the heart of God, these precious words from Him do afford us an intimate glimpse as to its flavor.

So, whenever you feel the whisper of compassion blow into your good Samaritan’s heart for that neighbor in need placed by God before you, then just give. Give generously and without hesitation. Love your neighbor as yourself by simply giving of yourself; your touch, your time, your words, your focus fully in the moment. Give of all you have with all your heart despite the smell. Give as though you were giving to Jesus, Himself, because, my beloved …..you are!

Here is something Jesus showed me last night. I’ve never quite thought of it this way before…

Fear is a reaction to a possible negative future outcome; it’s a reaction not to what already “is” but to what “could be”. But only God can see what is to come; only He can decide what is to be. So then, is He the One who whispers about the scary thing to come and then just leaves us alone to feel our feelings about it? No! God is not indifferent. He’s compassionate and comforts His children with gentle promises in the face of a scary future which by His own word is guaranteed. If we trust in His perfect love and sole authority over all things, including future events and our possible suffering, then fear can’t touch us.

Fear is not of Him because He is Holy and lying is a sin, and by that I mean, “fear always lies”. Even if spirits of fear do happen to whisper about future pain that does come true, they didn’t know it would, and yet they want you to believe they did as if they are God, and that is where they are always lying. Do you see? We should never believe any sudden thoughts of the future unless they come from God, Himself. Any other spirit claiming to know the future is lying, even if that future comes to pass, because they are claiming to be equal to God.

Even if a thousand-foot-high wall of water is just seconds away from crashing over us, and our own understanding is telling us we are about to die, God can deliver us to safety at the very last second, showing us that our own understanding lied to us as well. (Our own understanding is not God either and should not be relied on as such.) Believing our fears is acceptance of divination, and is acceptance of other spirits as equal with God. In that sense, it is adultery. Only God has final say over all things. When we rely solely on Him and not on voices of fear or our own understanding, then we honor Him as our God.

Ever notice how babies laugh rather than cry when tossed into the air by their daddies. They know no fear because they have yet to be hurt. Satan is allowed to administer pain and then his spirits of fear are allowed to whisper promises of more future pain in an attempt to get us to transfer our faith (belief) away from God and onto them. We trade our God for them. Isn’t that disgusting? They lie! They are NOT God. Don’t allow them to set themselves up as such.

Fear is like a man who walks up to you, points a gun to your head and says, “I am going to kill you!” Can you in peace and calm reply, “You can do nothing but that God allow it, and I bow to His will alone.”? We need not be afraid of what God might allow, for He is master even over the pain of death, and He loves us to the end of the universe and back.

God is infinite. Do you think He isn’t used to that? He has been infinite infinitely. It’s simply how HE BE. “Who are You?” we ask. He humbly tells us the truth. “I AM.” And, once He opens our eyes to see, we can only ever respond, “HE BE.”

God is infinite. Just try and count Him. Do you think He would then create something, anything which He could not control? In His naturally infinite wisdom, He created us, a “whole”. He is infinite, but we are singly, solely, only, wholly… one. I am aware of myself. I think, therefore, I am. But, I am also aware that I am… only. In my separation behind this veil, I am an only, an only, lonely, wholly one. I am alone.

I know beyond a doubt that He is always with me, before me, beside me, behind me, inside me, closer than the air I breathe, yet I cannot perceive. I don’t see Him, smell Him, taste Him, touch Him. I’ve yet to meet Him face to face. Yet, He speaks to me somehow in ways that fight description, seldom in words, seldom in pictures. He shows me concepts instantly, gently in a flash. He leads me by the heart, yet I’ve no proof to offer, even to myself. Belief and faith in Almighty Him, for me it is not senseless, it’s sense-less. And so, in faith, I hunger behind the veil.

When we are willing to publicly display our personal walk toward Jesus by allowing even our unsightly dross to appear in public view; when we openly share our personal journey of refinement, we provide others with such rich and fertile soil from which to gain courage and grow. Our personal testimony stands as the proof that Jesus DOES change lives.

Allowing others to witness our imperfections and moments of pure (and often ugly) humanness and then allowing them to accompany us through the beautiful transformation process is so gut-level honest, drawing us all closer together. Jesus can powerfully melt walls and enable us to see with His eyes when in obedience, His people willingly share the honest, undoctored testimony of their lives.

The raw, honest, vulnerable, exposed, messed-up-yet-beautiful truth of our life is indeed a powerful blessing. The parable of our life is not a trivial thing. It is a powerful tool of truth. Satan hates the mighty healing-power of honest testimony, and persistently produces comments out of loose mouths to intimidate us from sharing the naked truth. Have we not all experienced this pattern of discomfort-intimidation? Yet, from Jesus’ Spirit of courage, we stand, responsible to the truth, despite all that enemy-generated discomfort orchestrated to tempt us off the path.

When, for fearing the discomfort of criticism, we do cave to this intimidation, step off the path and begin offering an altered perspective (whether by hiding our truth behind a wall of protecting-silence, or, presenting a carefully-constructed, highly-polished, comfortably-perfected yet dishonest testimonial-mask), this altered, greater-than-we-are perspective can give the appearance of pridefully placing ourselves on a pedestal. Critical spirits can then emphasize that pedestal to the insecure, causing them to become threatened and themselves uncomfortable, tempting them to knock us off that pedestal, bringing us back down to our rightful place in their eyes — below their level — thus restoring their own comfortability.

Yet, if we, in humility, would only innocently stay the deeply-honest course (like a child) and not cover up the truth of our delicate light (but stand in all our vulnerability against any temptation of pride or fear of criticism), then we would not have so far to fall when the proud and insecure pass by, would we? For, they would see no threateningly-high pedestal to kick over. All they could do is scoff at the obvious imperfections of those whom they see as beneath them, and kick dirt in our face with their criticism — still painful, yes, but much less so, perhaps leaving room enough for us to pity them their place and quickly forgive them.

But, my greater point here is that this scene is incomplete. For, while our wary focus may be on those proud and insecure children who can and “will” hurt us, there are so many more children who are looking on — vulnerable, impressionable children seeking with open eyes and tender, broken hearts. Imagine the healthy and inspiring impact when they see us refuse to play the perfection-game of the insecure and the proud, but instead let our imperfect-yet-so-beautifully-humble-and-honest light shine despite the painful attacks, trusting that our Jesus will not let His transparent, beautiful lights come to shame for their imperfections.

When we take our seat on the witness stand of the courtroom, are we asked to speak of that which we do not know? All we can give is the testimony of our life. For, we are its one-and-only witness. How can the parable of our life and the beauty of our transformation achieve its full, inspirational impact when our full journey remains untold and all that is shown is our final destination, where it is we look our best and feel our safest. The parable of a life is a gritty story that only one witness can tell, but like reading a good book, it is a journey that many can take, a journey that deeply impacts the soul, forming a powerful loving-bond of friendship with the story’s main character. Satan hates this impact, so he badgers us to give an incomplete or less-than-truthful testimony, air-brushed, polished and refined for our own self-comfort.

I know it takes courage to expose our light in the presence of those few who might hurt us because of it, but there are truly so many others who will be drawn to it and deeply impacted by it. Our light is one of unconditional love, but also vulnerable truth. We each are the witnesses who carry our own testimony. It is this truthful testimony that the Lord can use for His glory, to save His children. They are all our future friends. And on behalf of those yet unsaved friends, I thank each of you, my brothers and sisters, for your courage and willingness to be vulnerable. You may not like your own life’s parable, but don’t underestimate or even attempt to judge its huge impact. Just know with a peaceful certainty that it is a very powerful story.

Can we all not see how God’s enemy, the prince of this world, is using the ways of this world as his own mocking version of God’s loving, velvet vise; how he is relentlessly pressing God’s children by continually bombarding us with this world’s increasingly-ungodly systems and practices? Do we truly not know that this is Satan behind the wheel, coordinating this constant push to lull us little by little away from the loving ways of Jesus and into a kind of numb acceptance of man’s lower ways, ever manipulating us to adopt these ways as good and acceptable?

It would seem that gradually, down through recent generations, we have found ourselves born into an ever-greater ignorance of the more godly and God-pleasing ways of our God-fearing forebears. “Well, this is all we’ve ever known, and it’s not so bad.” Surely, those of us rich in years have noted this world’s insidious and subtle march down and away from the pure and holy standard of citizenship required for Christ’s beautiful kingdom, as set forth by our loving King. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10) How would those born in poop even notice? How many, both rich or poor, now think mostly of themselves, are actually proud of their pride, boast about their sinful conquests and even scoff at acts of selfless kindness when offered by those with the courageous love to speak the name of Jesus out loud in public?

How can we not recognize the smell of the enemy on this, our modern world? Today, don’t we actually expect to be lied to by merchants and politicians and played by those who’ve “got game”? Don’t we purchase a majority of our products with the customary expectation that they will be overpriced, poorly made and become a landfill’s cherished heirloom? And, what about the violent, profane, adulterous and even blasphemous ingredients that are now regularly folded into our entertainment omelets? Has this not indeed become our daily food? Even graphic scenes of fornication that would have fainted our then-young great-grandmothers are now common place and accepted by the vast majority–and their now-young children. Who couldn’t see that one coming for a long time now?

Though some may ritually fast from food, how many are willing to come up out of Babylon and fast from their entertainment? Are we so addicted and desperate for our pleasures that we now unthinkingly accept any garbage ingredients they contain? Do we even notice that taste anymore? Where are those with the strength to say no to the appetites of their flesh and endure the symptoms of withdrawal? Who now can be still and quiet long enough? Oh, how we have hurt God’s heart by preferring the junk food of His enemy with all its artificially enhanced flavors and colors. Are there truly so many who do not fear God and are willing to risk their eternal soul for a seat at the world’s banquet? Is there anyone left who loves God enough to walk away? Why are we so willing to break His heart? Do you not know the lateness of hour in which you live? God is about to destroy the world’s banquet and hold His own banquet for His Son.

When Jesus said, “Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher” (Matthew 23:8), I don’t believe the god of Hollywood is the one teacher to which He was referring, do you? So, why then do we gather so recklessly at the foot of the silver screen for our daily bread? Do we think we are smarter than the devil? Do we think we are not changed by what we take in through our eyes and ears? We can not enter the arena of the enemy and come out unscathed; we can not say to ourselves, “I feel no pain, so I must have made it through okay.” Don’t you realize that the devil is an expert in anesthesia, and is relentless and calculating? You have not known determination until you have heard Satan raging at the Father. He has nothing left to loose. But, WE DO! He wants us all destroyed. He is the god of money, the god of the boast, the god of selfishness, lust and greed. He is the god of Hollywood, and he is now pulling out all the stops. Say hello to the world’s teacher.

(1 John 2:15) “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.”

Count on both hands how many a movie you have seen where its lead characters, when faced with a painful or dire situation (or even a barely-challenging one), turned as a matter of course to the one and only sovereign Being, the Judge of all creation and said something akin to, “Only by Thy will, Abba Father, could Pontius Pilate hand me over to my kinsmen for persecution. Please, take this bitter cup from me. Nevertheless, Your will be done, not mine.” How many armies or heroes, or even one solitary good guy, have you ever heard say, “Guide me, Lord. You know how this looks to my natural mind, but I will resist the temptation to take matters into my own hands and rely on my own understanding. Instead, I will wait on You, Father, for You oversee all events and timing. I shall be still and know that You are God and in control of all things”? How many have put their trust in Jesus and sought to please their loving, eternal Father by obeying Him and relying on Him for all their needs as did king David? Can you count the number of movies on both hands? Can you count them on even one?

Yet, how many movies lately have you taken in where the main character, after having fornicated once or twice and taken the Lord’s name in vain a handful of times, will hatch a plan, grab a weapon, lie, spew profanities, kill and then be worshiped as a hero for having saved the day by his own hand without any apparent help from God? Don’t tell me you don’t recognize this theme. Does it not fit 99% of all heroes offered up by Hollywood today? I call it the “worldly good-guy” theme, and this theme has continued to evolve over generations under the guidance of the god of Hollywood such that now the hero, being more edgy and gritty than ever, is nigh indistinguishable from the anti-hero, while at the same time, we are now being led to humanize and sympathize with the evil-persona.

Can you not see this sharp contrast between king David who relied on and loved his Lord and the near superheroes of today with their confident, emotionless expressions and their arms folded about their chest? Can you not perceive how you are being deliberately pushed to adopt the “rely on myself, take matters into my own hands and be my own hero” way as truth? This is not God’s will. This is not God’s way. This way is a deception and a very dangerous path made popular by Hollywood.

What will you do when your economy tanks, your currency becomes worthless and your food becomes scarce? Through His prophets recently, Jesus has said that this will happen very soon. Will you give in to Satan’s spirits of fear, anxiety and anger when they come a-callin’? Will you push God aside and proceed to take matters into your own hands like all the “good” hero examples in your DVD collection?

(Isaiah 8:11-13) For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me, “Do not walk in the way of this people; do not think like everyone else does. Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. But the LORD of hosts, Him you shall honor as holy. Let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread.”

There is a particular movie being released in theaters this Valentine’s weekend. Please, do not seek it out as your teacher. The Lord has indicated that anyone participating in this will come under a type of cover; a dark one, and that it will be rare to find a pure marriage bed once the enemy carries out his assignments. Please don’t hurt God anymore. Do not push the Holy Spirit out of your marriage for the sake of sensual pleasures. Do not allow your appetites to rule you. God has called us to love Him with all our mind, heart, soul and strength. Sacrifice this movie as your first-of-many acts of love toward Him.

Don’t play the devil’s fool. Please ask the Holy Spirit, not Hollywood, to be your Teacher.